Separating and amalgamating apparatus



NITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

GEORGE IV. FITTS, OF COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.

SEPARATING AND AMALGAMATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,608, dated December3, 1895.

Application filed September 6, 1895. Serial No. 561,636. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. Frrrs, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Colorado Springs, in the county of El Paso andState of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSeparating and Amalgamating Apparatus; and I do declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to thefigures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to improvements in separating and amalgamatingapparatus and my object is to save the fine float orfiour gold andsilver.

It is well known that in some of the richest,

placer ground the mineral is so fine as to be held in suspension by thewater, and therefore cannot be saved by the ordinary gravity process,since it will not settle by its own gravity. The affinity or mutualattraction existing between mercury and gold and silver when brought incontact is also well understood. Furthermore, the mercury being of muchgreater specific gravity than thewater and sand or gangue of the pulp,it is very easy to separate the mercury from the gangue. In my improvedapparatus I make use of these two principles. I force the sand or watercontaining the fine mineral through a body of mercury. I thus bringevery particle of mineral in contact with the mercury, which unitestherewith, forming an amalgam, while the gangue and water are forced outof avertical discharge-pipe, and thus separated from the amalgam, whichmaintains its position by force of its greater gravity.

Having thus outlined the construction of the apparatus and theprinciples utilized in its operation, I will proceed to describe thesame in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus with parts brokenaway to facilitate clearness of illustration. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection taken through the apparatus.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate a suitable frame, from which project theshort legs 5. Upon this frame is mounted a tank 6, whose top is coveredby a conical screen 7. Below the screen 7 is the conical'inner wall orroof 6 which rests upon a short vertical wall 6, which is parallel withthe outer wall of the tank. The outer and inner vertical walls of thetank are connected by a horizontal bottom' 6, in which are formedapertures 6 from which lead vertical pipes 8. As shown in the drawings,there are four of these vertical pipes, whose lower extremities areconnected with horizontal pipes 8, which are carried diagonally inwardtoward a point directly beneath the apex of the conical wall 6. Thesehorizontal pipe-sections 8 are connected at their inner extremities witha fourway fitting or coupling, to the top of which is attached a shortvertical discharge-pipe 10, surrounded by afunnel-shaped receptacle 12,to which are attached two rings 13 and 14, adapted to fit the pipe.ceptacle 12, which is largest; is covered by a screen 15 of any.suitable mesh. The function of this receptacle is to prevent the loss ofmercury in case any should be carried out of the discharge-pipe. I-Ienceat the bottom of the receptacle the pipe is provided with one or moreapertures 16 to allow all of the mercury caught by the receptacle to runback into the coupling 9, communicating with the pipe-sections 8 whichnormally contain a suitable quantity of mercury, which is desig nated bythe numeral 17.

This apparatus is designed for treating either placer diggings orpulverized ore containing free mineral. The material is discharged inthe form of pulp upon the screen 7, which is of such mesh as to rejectthe coarser portion of the gangue. The balance of the material iscarried with the water through the screen andfalls upon the conical wall6, whence it passes to the horizontal bottom 6 of the tank, thencedownwardly through the pipes 8 and inwardly through the sections 8containing the mercury, with which the pulp is thoroughly mingled.\Vhile passing through the mercury-containin g pipesections 8 the pulpis impoverished of its gold and silver, which is taken up or absorbed bythe mercury in the manner heretofore eX- The top of the replained. Thegangue is carried thence by the water-pressure resulting from the depthof the tank and the length of the pipes 8 upward through and out of thedischarge-pipe 10, whose upper extremity is open. The height of thedischarge-pipe is so regulated with reference to the gravity of thepressurehead that the force will be sufficient to carry the gangue overthe top of the discharge-pipe. Care must be taken, however, that thispressure is not sufficient to force the mercury and amalgam over the topof the discharge-pipe. The specific gravity of the mercury, however, isso great as compared with the gangue that there will be no difficulty,on properly regulating the pressure, to accomplish the end sought. Ifany mercury or amalgam should be carried over the top of thedischarge-pipe, it will fall upon the screen of the receptacle 12 andpass thence to the bottom of said receptacle 12 and back into themercury-pipes via the apertures 6 The amalgam may be removed from thepipe-sections 8 through the instrumentality v of a draw-off cook 18,connected with an opening formed in the bottom of the coupling 0.

The numeral designates a trough, sluice, or other suitable conduitadapted to carry the material to the apparatus and discharge it upon theconical screen 7.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In anamalgamating and separating apparatus, the combination of a feed tank, anumber of conduits leading downwardly therefrom horizontal pipes forminga continuation of said conduits and containing a quantity of mercury acentral, hollow coupling with which said horizontal pipes are connected,and a vertical discharge pipe also connected with said coupling, saiddischarge pipe being of less carrying capacity than the combinedcarrying capacity of all the inlet pipes, the height of the dischargepipe being regulated as described.

2. In a separating and amalgamating apparatus, the combination with afeed tank adapted to receive the material to be treated, of a conicalscreen covering said tank, a conical inner wall or roof below the screenand adapted to guide the material outward toward the circumference ofthe tank, outlet pipes extending downwardly from the tank, horizontalpipes connected with said outlet pipes, the horizontal pipes containinga quantity of mercury, avertical discharge pipe connected with all thehorizontal pipes, a receptacle surrounding the discharge pipe, and ascreen covering the said receptacle, the discharge pipe being providedwith one or more apertures communicating with said receptacle,substantially as described.

3. In a separating and amalgamating apparatus, the combination of thefeed tank, a conduit leading downwardly therefrom, a

horizontal pipe connected with said conduit and containing mercury, avertical discharge pipe connected with the mercury-containing pipe, anda funnel shaped receptacle surrounding the discharge pipe, a screencovering said receptacle, the discharge pipe being provided with one ormore apertures located at the bottom of the receptacle, as and for thepurpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE W. FITTS. Witnesses:

CHAS. E. DAWSON, ALFRED J. OBRIEN.

